by: the Common Constitutionalist

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Some say the President of the United States, no matter who that is at any given time, is the most powerful man in the world. As the Chief Executive of the United States, he commands both the largest and most powerful military, and also the largest and most powerful economy on the planet.

This may be true on the World stage, but it is not the case domestically. For years now, supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy has been the most powerful person in America.

While this is an abomination of federalism, it is never the less true. And it’s something that seems to be thrown about as no big deal by the legal, political and pundit class. But it is a big ‘F’ing deal (h/t Joe Biden), yet has evidently become the new normal.

We have devolved from the Founders’ vision of three equal branches providing checks and balances on one another, to being ruled by nine black robed oligarchs, to now the reality we face today. That our freedoms and liberties, our economy – everything we hold dear, is controlled by a single individual.

In Justice Kennedy’s hands (or his vote), he holds the future of America. We have never been so close to a dictatorship as we are today. And by one who cannot be voting out, or otherwise removed. Like a dictator, it is he and he alone who decides to stay or go. But unlike a Dictator, there is little fear of assassination. read more